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"It seems like something was missing. The files were presented to us in chaotic order so it could be just a random picture."

Asked if she found evidence of money laundering, she said: "I have seen large sums of money going in and out of different accounts... If you think to see something suspicious, these large sums of money, as a human, you think something is not right.

"My job was to flag up something mentioning large sums of money, which I did."

She found three threatening text messages, with the first saying in Russian: "Alexander you will go to prison for a long time" and demanding he pay the equivalent of £6,000 in roubles.

(Image: Thomas Mackintosh)

The next text told him in Russian not to "do anything silly because we have everything under control".

A text message in English from Mr Perepilichnyy's wife Tatiana said someone called Rishat was "milking him like a cow - he betrayed you a long time ago".

Mr Fear-Segal asked the witness if she had not figured out that Rishat Ismagilov, Mr Perepilichnyy's brother-in-law, was said to be involved in a Russian money laundering vehicle.

He also suggested the evidence could show Mr Perepilichnyy's business being "controlled by some sort of extortionist".

Lost documents

The court heard the lost documents may have illustrated how Mr Perepilichnyy was trying to minimise his role in the money laundering case and reach agreement on his evidence to Swiss authorities.

His Skype messages referred to Hermitage, Swiss authorities and money laundering and having "all the documents to prove this".

On October 13 2012, Mr Perepilichnyy made an internet search for an article on Sergei Magnistky, the late Russian lawyer who helped uncover the Hermitage fraud.

Ms Clarke-O'Connell confirmed she found nothing on the computer about Mr Perepilichnyy's health being poor or of concern.

Surrey Police said the businessman's death was not suspicious (Image: Vagner Vidal - INS News Agency)

John Beggs QC, for Surrey Police, complained the witness was giving an "inexpert" opinion on what was "fragmentary evidence".

Investigating officer Detective Superintendent Ian Pollard said Surrey Police was given two discs but the computer data was not on them.

Investigators were unable to obtain a back-up copy from Sectu.

Mr Pollard accepted there were "shortcomings" in the way Mr Perepilichnyy's computer was examined, missing out searches for alleged key figures in the Hermitage fraud and the Klyuev organised crime group.

None of the translators picked up mention of a one million euro "gratitude" in Skype chat, Henrietta Hill, for Hermitage, said.

Mr Pollard admitted "all avenues" for trying to recover the lost data were now exhausted.

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